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step, not just for women, and not just for
lesbians, but for butches. Even fat women.
It’s reaching a group of people that we
would never have been able to reach be-
fore.”
DeLaria also says it has pried open
some much-needed conversation on what’s
happening in women’s prisons. “We feel
for Alex,” she says. “And I think a lot of
people have that relating experience to
Pipe r.” OITNB humanises prisoners who
are usually demonised. These women are
not their crimes. Through flashbacks we
see their stories, which are often saturated
with mental health issues, drug issues,
and homelessness. While never excusing
their crimes, OITNB does present them in
context. If you’ d had another
upbringing, in another set
of circumstances, and taken
a fatal wrong turn, could
you have been one of these
women?
On why it’s off-the-charts
successful, DeLaria says,
“My business head is going,
‘Because they dropped all the
episodes at once—that’s new.’
But it also shows how starved
people have been for some-
thing like this. A nd we’re
dramedy. It’s hands-down
fucking hilarious.”
It’s also a show that isn’t
afraid to really go there.
Creator Jenji Kohan, the wild
virtuoso behind Weeds, isn’t
afraid to give her characters
exactly what they need to
say. Pornstache hisses at
born-again fundamentalist
Pennsatucky, “I want to fuck
Jesus in his hand-hole.”
As for season two teas-
ers? I really tried, and this
much I did find out: It will
be less Piper-centric—Taystee
and Crazy Eyes have been
upgraded to series regulars;
the focus will widen to in-
clude Morello, Sister Ingalls,
Poussey, and Miss Rosa. Lori
Petty comes to Litchfield,
as does Lorraine Toussaint.
Toussaint will play Vee, the
steely leader of a drug ring
that uses children as “run-
ners”—Vee’s going to be
controversial. Cryptically,
(but we’ll take it), Kohan has said, “I
think Piper survives by her behaviour, and
I think there were consequences to her
behaviour.” Season three—yep, it’s just
been announced—will follow the guards’
stories.
But will Piper and Alex wind up in a
relationship? What happens to Piper and
Pennsatucky after the cliff hanger of all
cliff hangers? And what the hell is with
that chicken?
SMOULDERING. INKED.
BADASS.
She of the jet-lined, unnerving eyes and
the maverick rockabilly hotness: Alex
Vause. When fans thought she wasn’t
coming back for season two, their uproar
found its way across every media platform.
Laura Prepon, who plays Alex, says, “It
was really flattering. I wanted to be there
for season two...but there was a schedul-
ing conflict.” (Exhale: Prepon managed to
work it so that she is, in fact, in quite a bit
of season two.)
And it was hard to miss those caustic
rumours about why she might not have
been back at all. Did it bother her that
the rumours were about Scientology be-
ing anti-queer? She laughs hard before
she answers, “Well, Tiffany, that’s a bold
question! I mean, yeah, it did bother me,
You want to know what’s
really different about
OITNB?” DeLaria asks. It’s
“a project with so many
women, so many important
roles, so many of them
lesbians. And when you’ve
been in the business as long
as I’ve been in the business,
business is run by men.
17
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COVER STORY | FEATURE